MMA NOTEBOOK: Sanchez relocates, seeking to rebound

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS NOTEBOOK

Published 5:30 am, Monday, September 10, 2007

For the past two years, Sanchez has owned the top rung on the 170-pound ladder in Greg Jackson's training camp in Albuquerque, N.M. That changed recently when former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre joined Team Jackson.

St. Pierre's arrival led to Sanchez's departure.

"We were going to work it out to train together, but if that would happen, we would become brothers, and I'm in no way going to fight one of my training brothers," Sanchez said. "I had to make the move."

The training camp transition has worked well for St. Pierre. He looked focused and sharp in dispatching Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 last month. Sanchez seeks a similar revival after what has been a mostly forgettable 2007.

Sanchez began the year on the sideline due to a suspension for testing positive for marijuana after beating Joe Riggs in December. He then saw his perfect record nicked, losing to bitter rival Koscheck at UFC 69 in the most lackluster performance of his career. The defeat came after Sanchez shoved Koscheck at the weigh-in.

The season-one winner of The Ultimate Fighter reality show is relying on a relocation to San Diego and a tighter connection with his boxing and conditioning coach, Rob Garcia, to turn his year around.

"After the loss to Koscheck, I had to find myself as a person," Sanchez said. "I had to change a lot of things in my life — the things I was doing, the decisions I was making. The loss was, in my opinion, God opening my eyes and showing me that I need to keep my focus and train to be a champion."

In addition to working with Garcia, Sanchez is honing his jiujitsu skills under the direction of six-time Brazilian jiujitsu world champion Saulo Riberio in an effort to become a complete fighter.

Sanchez draws wrestling ace Jon Fitch in his comeback bout at UFC 76. Fitch is on a 13-fight, five-year winning streak and is a fighter several of the top welterweights have avoided due to his superior wrestling.

"He's never fought a guy that's going to press the pace that I'm going to press Sept. 22," Sanchez (19-1) said. "I'm going to cut him off. There will be no running. There will be no chess game. I'm going to attack like you've never seen me attack before."

If Sanchez executes that game plan, he will re-establish himself as a top contender in the division and set up a potential rematch with Koscheck.

Versus, WEC sign extension

Versus will continue to brawl with World Extreme Cagefighting.

The Comcast-owned cable network has extended its partnership with WEC to air an additional 15 live events and 20 episodes of the promotion's highlight show, WrekCage.

Versus, which reaches 74 million U.S. homes, began carrying live WEC events in June and has had WrekCage in heavy rotation over the past couple of months. The network will air its fourth event Dec. 12, featuring a featherweight title fight between champion Urijah Faber and No. 1 contender Jeff Curran.

The new pact ensures WEC will be part of Versus' programming mix into 2010.

EliteXC 3

Elite Xtreme Combat heads to Hawaii for its latest fight card.

Titleholder Murilo Rua will face ICON Sport champion Robbie Lawler in the middleweight main event Saturday at Blaisdell Arena in Oahu. The bout is part of the promotion's strategy of bringing champions from different organizations together to square off in super fights. In this case, only Rua's title will be on the line.

In the event's co-feature, UFC veteran Nick Diaz returns from a drug suspension to make his EliteXC debut against Mike Aina. Diaz's training partner, Jake Shields, also will be on the card, throwing his first punches in EliteXC. He's scheduled to face Renato Verissimo, a BJ Penn-trained fighter, who's attempting to be the first man since 2004 to beat the red-hot Shields.